Taking the NHL Outside: The making of stadium hockey

Is Nail Yakupov a punk for avoiding this hit from Dan Carcillo?

I was watching the Edmonton broadcast of the Oilers vs. Blackhawks game the other night when I saw Chicago's Daniel Carcillo steaming toward Edmonton's Nail Yakupov.

It looked like CarBomb was going to unload on the rookie, but Yakupov sensed the threat at the last second and ducked, leaving the hard-charging Carcillo to slam face-first into the boards.

"Dodged a bullet there, didn't he?" I thought.

And that was it.

It wasn't until the next morning that I heard that Chicago broadcaster Ed Olczyk had taken issue with Yakupov's decision to avoid a date with the glass.

You cannot do that to a player that’s coming. That’s a dangerous play by Nail Yakupov. Because what happens is, when you duck like that, that player is going to go over the top of your shoulder and hit his face or his neck against the boards. To me that should be a penalty on Yakupov. I see it at the amateur level, I’d like to see USA Hockey and amateur referees take control of that type of play. I hope it’s not being taught by coaches, but that’s a dangerous play. Somebody’s going to get really hurt when a player ducks like that.”

Really? Was Olczyk actually saying that a player has a responsibility to ensure that the guy who is trying to drive him through the boards doesn't splatter himself instead?

Okay... well, maybe just a bit of a homer call there. No mention of the fact that Yakupov had long since given up the puck or that the distance Carcillo traveled probably qualified it as a charge, but hey, that's Eddie's take. Probably on an island with a few Hawks fans with that one, I figured.

But apparently he wasn't the only one who saw it that way. During Wednesday night's Montreal-Toronto broadcast, the TSN crew weighed in on the play, which they deemed "controversial."

"Absorb the hit or sidestep the hit, but you can't go low like that on a guy. It's not fair," said Bob McKenzie, arguably the most level-headed commentator in the business. Moments later, Darren Pang agreed. "I'd rather see him take the hit."